The Red Wings didn’t particularly start this one well but after Riley Sheahan made good on an awful Ottawa turnover, the Senators were never in it again.

Franzen with the hat trick is the hero of the night. I love Tatar and Jurco’s goals as well, great examples of why you keep your stick on the ice ’cause those goals don’t happen if they’re not ready to shoot as soon as the puck gets to them.

Things definitely got out of hand at the end. I don’t think Chris Neil will get suspended for jumping Franzen but he should be. And I’d love to hear a reason for Franzen getting booted when Neil attacked him but we won’t.

Overall, though, four points in two nights coming back from the Olympic Break is huge and that’s all that matters.

It’s been awhile since I’ve put together some real postgame notes. Coming back from the Olympics seems like as good of a time as any to give it another shot.

I’ll admit I was working through much of the game so my attention was split, but I feel like the third line was pretty invisible. That could just be because the second line gets all my attention now, though. Seriously, as I said during the game, I love the Sheahan/Tatar/Jurco line. I’d be okay with the Wings being sellers at the deadline if it meant that line would be the second line at the start of next season (Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Nyquist is my #1 line in this scenario, with Alfredsson back with Helm and Abdelkader on the third line). No, I don’t think that’s reasonable.

The first line, though… Awesome to see Datsyuk and Franzen back. I thought for sure Bertuzzi would be back on the fourth line by the end of the night but damned if he didn’t make the most of being back in the lineup, scoring the game’s first goal.

Of course, Nyquist had to show he doesn’t belong on the fourth line even if Bert fits up top, moving all over the ice to get into position to bang home the rebound for the game-winner in OT. Just a smart play by him to keep moving and get to the right spot.

Right before that, the three-on-three was intense. I’m sold on it. Way better than a shootout.

Of course, all it took was one defensive collapse to require that overtime, as the Wings got all spun around in the final minute to allow the Canadiens to tie it. Detroit didn’t play the best game but that should have been a 1-0 win in regulation.

Detroit is now 3-1-1 all-time coming back from the Olympic Break. Way better than I’d expect.

I’ve been (finally) going through my photos from the Alumni Showdown at Comerica Park on New Years Eve and my lack of familiarity with some of the Toronto players has been causing some problems. I look at my photos and say “Who is that guy and why don’t I see a #28 listed on the roster?”

Well, it’s because the announced rosters weren’t the final rosters. A couple players were listed for one game and played in the other or were listed with different numbers or were listed and didn’t actually play. I went back through the player introductions to put together a complete list and I figured I’d share it out for posterity.

For Detroit, the only oddity was that Joe Kocur was introduced in and played the first period wearing Bob Probert‘s #24 jersey.

For the Leafs, several things were different. Macoun played after having been on the Game One roster. Curtis Joseph wore his usual #31 and Felix Potvin wore #29, having been listed with #35 and #36, respectively. Bryan McCabe wore #24 instead of #29. Up front, Gary Leeman wore #4 instead of #11, Tie Domi wore #28 instead of #20, and Mike Gartner wore #11 instead of #22.

As I said, compiling this list is nothing groundbreaking, I just wanted it to be documented somewhere so I figured I’d write it up.

Detroit Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg underwent back surgery on Friday, the team announced. His recovery is expected to take eight weeks.

Of the procedure, Detroit assistant general manager Ryan Martin said, “It went very, very well. They removed part of a disc that was rubbing on a nerve. It was what they thought it was. The recovery process looks very, very positive.”

Zetterberg withdrew from the Olympics after one game as Sweden’s captain, citing a slightly herniated disk. He also missed 13 games with the Red Wings this season, including much of the month of December.

Should Zetterberg miss the expected eight weeks, his return would be during the first week of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Red Wings currently sit in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, one point up on three teams for the final wild card playoff spot.

Detroit Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg will miss the remainder of the Olympics, withdrawing from the games due to a herniated disk in his back.

Zetterberg, Detroit’s captain as well as Sweden’s, missed a team practice and photo on Thursday after playing and scoring the game-winning goal in Sweden’s 4-2 win over the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Later in the day it was announced that he would sit out the Swedes’ Friday matchup with Switzerland.

Hours before Sweden’s 1-0 win over the Swiss, the team announced that Zetterberg would return to Detroit and that Niklas Kronwall would take over as team captain. Team doctor Björn Waldebäck added that Zetterberg could miss the remainder of the NHL season.

Detroit general manager Ken Holland said that Zetterberg is on medication to get the swelling in his back down, which would enable him to travel. When he’s well enough, he’ll return to Detroit to be evaluated.